Today, when I restart a failed server, stuck in Loading module ipmi_si_drv ... , about 30 minutes boot is completed.
First try setting IPMI to Shared in BIOS, if the option is available. When booting your installation media, press Shift O to display the boot arguments and add noipmiEnabled to the boot arguments. Remember to do the same once the installation/upgrade is complete. Manually turn off or remove the module by turning the option VMkernel.Boot.ipmiEnabled off in vSphere or using the commands below:
# Do a dry run first: esxcli software vib remove –dry-run –vibname ipmi-ipmi-si-drv # Remove the module: esxcli software vib remove –vibname ipmi-ipmi-si-drv
or try the following command in an unsupported shell connection:
esxcfg-module -d ipmi_si_drv
This disables the module although it still gets loaded.
Use a -l argument to see what modules are enabled/loaded and check that your desired one is disabled. This appears to be persistent across a reboot.